Ancient Fragments

Against philosophers (2nd/3rd century)
"...[W]hat could be whiter than silver? Yet still Thrasyalces says that silver
is black. So, when even the whiteness of silver is on the doubtful side, what
wonder that men differ when they consult about peace and war, about alliance
and revenue and expenditure and things like that?"—Anonymous

Probably the work of a philistine or a rival philosopher, this fragment further
illustrates the assimilation of Greek life into ancient Oxyrhynchus as well as
its prevalence through the Roman-Egyptian period. The writer goes on to say
that madmen locked in a house would behave more peaceably than a group of
philosophers confined in their place.